Let the battle begin: Here’s the video.

Brave New Films invites you to meet: Rev. Rod Parsley, the televangelist megachurch pastor from Ohio who hates Islam. According to David Corn of Mother Jones, Parsley has called on Christians to wage war against Islam, which he considers to be a “false religion.” In the past, Parsley has also railed against the separation of church and state, homosexuals, and abortion rights, comparing Planned Parenthood to Nazis.

Wow. He sounds friendly.

On Beliefnet, David Gibson seems to regret that political leaders in the US are forced to create a distance between themselves and their religion to make themselves electable (he is talking about Obama not McCain).

Seems more to me like they are forced to align themselves with one crazy faith or another to even be considered for nomination. I wish America’s leaders wouldn’t lend credibility to all the nonsense that goes on in the name of faith.

On Global Voices, John Kennedy is keeping track of new information on the riots in Tibet and the Chinese crack-down in this post. Snippets of news are coming out via micro-blogs like Twitter, but otherwise it’s mostly Chinese who are uploading comments.

Kennedy says:

**One reader has written in asking to know why there are no apparent Tibetan voices in this post. This of course is not a deliberate omission but a problem of not being able to find them. Any such related links if left in the comments or sent to chinese [at] globalvoicesonline [dot] org will be translated swiftly and everyone’s help is most welcome in this.

Keep an eye on this post: China: Fire on the streets of Lhasa, Tibet

I can’t help feeling frustrated at the news of Guantánamo’s 6th anniversary on 11 January. Hundreds of innocent people (including one journalist) locked up under inhumane conditions for SIX years, and there’s not a shred of hope something like THAT would ever become a campaign issue in the US presidential elections. Who would want to be seen supporting “terrorists”?

Amnesty International has a new campaign to collect at least 500,000 signatures on this new website that slowly eats away at an image of the prison, one pixel per signature. The audiovisual site, called Tear it Down, also provides grueling facts and dates, such as:

“Up to 86% of detainees held at Guantánamo were arrested by the Afghan Northern Alliance and in Pakistan at a time when rewards of up to US$5,000 were paid for every unidentified terror suspect handed over to US forces.”

In California, the pro bono lawyers of two Guantánamo detainees have a blog where they keep track of news about the detention facility, and also provide updates about their own interactions with their clients. Here’s the depressing news from last week:

Today I received a letter from Mr. Al-Ghizzawi in which he informs me that he has recently seen a doctor and the doctor informed him that he has AIDs. It will take some time for me to confirm this information as the government is reluctant to give out any information to the prisoners or their attorneys but you can bet I will be doing everything I can to find out the truth.

How sad that many of the countries of origin of the majority of detainees themselves have abysmal records on democracy and freedom of expression. Somehow it makes their pleas for justice and criticism of the United States ring hollow. And vice versa. Any policy condoning any degree of torture or illegal detention, perpetuates the practice worldwide. At least that’s what I think.

On openDemocracy, Kanish Tharoor, walks us through what they could have asked instead. CNN is so darn black-and-white. They present her as a hero of democracy with little mention of her actual record in office, the numerous corruption charges, back-room dealings with Musharraf, illusions of grandeur, or any number of criticisms that are tactfully outlined in this obituary in the New York Times. If you’re looking for any kind of depth of insight about what people in Pakistan may be thinking after this violent assassination, try Global Voices special coverage page, where we are linking to new posts from South Asian bloggers daily.

As a teenager I once picked up Bhutto’s autobiography at a library in Denmark. It was one of the first non-fiction books I ever read. I had traveled to Pakistan with my father when I was just nine years old, and I was impressed how a woman could become Prime minister of a country where female professors teach male students behind screens and need male escorts to walk around in public. The story was exciting from a female perspective, and I still remember details of her house arrest today. The circumstances of her death are tragic, but I hope her legacy may inspire more women to lead in the future.

The environment is important and Al Gore and his team have done great work to raise awareness. But why give the award to someone who is already on the up and up? Giving it to Shirin Ebadi in 2003 at least had the effect of putting Iranian women on the map. Last year’s award to the guy from the Grameen Bank really brought micro-lending to everyone’s attention.

Although Gore is a politician, his campaign for the environment is remarkably void of political recommendations, policy activism, or even awareness-building about the biggest human environmental crises in the developing world. Surely, there must be someone fighting for human rights at the risk of death or imprisonment who could use the Nobel fame and prize money better?

While there doesn’t seem to be outrage at the nomination, an early survey of the global blogosphere on Global Voices doesn’t seem to indicate much cheering going on either. Gore winning the Nobel Peace prize is even sillier than him winning the Oscar (over these films) for a film with very few cinematic qualities. How boring. Yes, I believe he won the presidential election in 2004. No, I don’t believe he will run in 2007.

Here’s something else ironic.

I still recommend signing his petition though. Just in case millions of other people do too.

(thanks P-Duffy).

And here’s a little something Al Gore hasn’t told us about the real solutions to global warming. Namely: it’ll take huge political committment and personal sacrifices. Speaking of which: how many of you New Yorkers have switched over to CLEAN ENERGY? Do it!